Knit fabric having a welt and the art of making the same.



R. W. SCOTT.

KNIT FABRIC HAVING A WELT AND THE ART OF MAKING THE SAME.

APPLIUATION TILED DIIU.20,1912.

1,074,01 9. Patented Sept. 23, 1913.

3 SHBET8-8HEET 1.

4 0 0 a o O :0 :0 c m o s s COLUMBLA PLANOOIAPN CO.,WAIMI7GTON. D, C.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Z.

I EFL-AL 2 A M QI W w n z UNITE 1L STATES ATENT OFFfCE.

ROBERT W. SOOTT, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO SCOTT & WILLIAMS, INCORPORATED, OE CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

KNIT FABRIC HAVING A WELT AND THE ART OF MAKING THE SAME.

Application filed December .20, 1912.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 23, f 913.

Serial No. 737,808.

To all whom 2'15 may concern Be it known that I, Rocnn'r WV. Score, a. citizen of the Unitec States, and resident of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of ldassachusetts, have invented certain Tmprovements in Knit Fabric Having a \Velt and the Art of Making the Same, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to knit articles and to the method of making them, and especially to a welt structure, for a plain or ribbed fabric, of the two-walled or flat closed-tube type, in which one face is composed of plain fabric knit in integral prolongation of the wales of one face of the fabric proper, while the other wall is a similar plain fabric knit in integral prolongation of wales of the other face of the fabric. i rccording to my invention the walls of such a welt may be knit successively of the same yarn, without interruption of the continuity of the knitting operation, thereby providing an improved and effective structure for the end finish of a garment or for shipping the raveling of a section thereof, with increased cheapness and enhanced regularity of structure, and partici'ilarly adapting my new fabric for machine manufacture.

To this end my invention consists of corain new steps in the production of the fair ric, and of the new structure resulting from the orderly performance of said steps.

It haslong been recognized that the twowalled welt, consisting of inner and outer, or front and back, sections of plain fabric, made in integral prolongation of the face wales and back wales respectively of the ribbed fabric or tube, possesses great advantages, among which are the capacity to con street the welt of a considerable length without involving projections from the surface of the fabric or tube of fabric suliicient in extent to interfere with the fabric take-up or other instruments of the knitting machines employed either to make the ribbed fabric or to use it in other manufacturing operations. Such a structure is shown, for instance, in the patent to V. H. Pepper, 4l73,4t74l, April 26, 1892. But these advantages of the prior art have been accompanied by the nec ssity to provide for knitting one face of the welt of a yarn different from the body of the fabric, thus involving the provision in the machines employed to make it of simultaneously acting feed points and cams to cooperate with them, and the creation of each welt at two points at which a discontinuous yarn or yarns entered and left the fabric.

My present invention therefore is directed.

to the provision of a fabric structure having the advantages of the prior art but which may be made upon an ordinary rib knitting machine having a single yarn guide and a single set of knitting calns, and therefore as an integral or one-yarn fabric, in contradistlnction to a fabric composed of two or more yarns, and to the method of forming said structure. A fabric so knitted by a single feed can be readily unraveled, in case faults occur in it, so that the yarn composing it not lost. This is not possible with a fabric knitted by two or more feeds, and a considerable economy is thus elfected. A further economy is occasioned by the simple construction and more eliicient operation of the single feed machine enabled to be used, machines of such a character producing fewer faults in operation.

in the accon' panying drawings, Figures 1, 2 and 3 are dlagrams showing respectively the end of the knitting of the ribbed portions of my new fabric; the end of the formation of the outer or face wall of the welt and the end of the formation of the inner or back wall of the welt; Fig. f is a face view, in the nature of a diagram, showing the welt at the part at which its formation is begun and ended; Fig. 5 is a section on the line VV of Fig. at through a face wale, and therejli'ore longitudinally of the fabric on a reduced scale; Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. *1- of a more extensive welt made in accori'lance with my improved process; Fig. 7 is a diagram section of a fabric like that of l ig. c, on the line Vl i-VlI on a reduced scale; Figs. 8 and 9 are diagrams of circles of instruments illustratin one order of the steps of manufacture; l ig. 10 is a longitudinal section of fabric explanatory of a structure sought to be avoided.

Referring to Figs. -:t and 5 the pa rt of the fabric illustrated comprises the last few courses of the body of ()IIO'MHl-(HIO ribbed fabric R the front wall A. and back wall B of a tubular welt, respectively of plain fabric, and the first few courses it of a sue ceeding body of ribbed fabric. In use as an end finish for a garment, the welt illustrated will be employed as an attachment of the instance upon the cylinder needles 10, the

needles 20 of the other carrier holding their loops during the formation of plain fabric upon the active carrier. A result of this structure is the suspension of the entire weight of the fabric and the entire strain of the take-up upon the loops held by the needles thrown out of action, for instance the dial needles. This suspension relieves the needles of the active carrier of suflicient strain to enable them to operate properly, after making a few courses, unless the 1nachine is equipped with instruments, such as the web-holders 60, to maintain the tension upon the last course knit. Upon the resumption of knitting by the idle set of needles, the dial needles 2 as instanced, the last course of the plain fabric formed by the cylinder will be joined into and merged with the course of loops held by the dial, by knitting through them the first course of the ribbed fabric, the making of which is now to be resumed. This results in the projection of the welt as a closed transverse tube of plain fabric, surrounding the outer face of the rib knit tube R, of a cross-section substantially as shown at S, Fig. 10. Such Welts do not readily double over as they should and are apt to bunch in an undesirable manner. 7

I am not aware that it has hitherto been attempted to knit the front wall and the back wall -of the superior tubular or two? walled welt in succession. This necessarily involves the completion of the first or front wall of the welt before the beginning of the second or back wall, and therefore involves the passage at some point in the fabric of the yarn from the last course of the front wall to the first course of the back wall. practice, unless special precautions be taken, the passage from the front wall to the back wall will also involve the knitting of some part of the yarn by both carriers, during the course upon which the change was effected, thus forming a course, or a section of a course of fabric taken by the needles of both carriers, like that shown at 7 Fig. 10, which would have the effect of joining the first course and the last course of the first or outer wall of the welt, and subsequently joining the first and last course of the inner wall of the welt in the same manner by the first course of the succeeding ribbed fabric, as at course 9 of Fig. 10. Inother words, instead of a free tube having inner and outer surfaces of plain fabric, extending transversely completely around the circularly knit fabric or across the section of flat knit fabric, the tubular welt would be properly formed for a part of its width, and at the other parts would present, in vertical section, the appearance shown in Fig. 10, con sisting at this part of the fabric of two united turned welts s and 8. The length of the whole fabric tube or section would necessarily be shortened at those wales only where the welt was so joined, by the whole dimension of the length of the two-walled welt, forming a pucker or knot destructive of its usefulness.

In carrying out my improved art, to avoid the above difiiculty, I proceed by first completing the section of ribbed fabric R that is to the point illustrated in Fig. l of the drawings. At this point I cease the forma 7 tion of loops upon one face, as by throwing out of operation without clearing their loops behind the latches the needles of one carrier,

for instance of the dial 40. Knitting now proceeds upon the other face, as by needles 10 of the other carrier, the cylinder 30, to

the extent desired, to form the front wall- A of the welt. This extent may vary greatly, and in the case of a machine equipped with properly functioning webholders, the suspension of the loops of the back face of the fabric upon the dial needles will not present any obstruction to making fabric of sufficient length, say twenty to forty courses.

For simplicity I have shown a comparatively short welt consisting of only seven courses of plain fabric upon each face, as indicated at a to a of Figs. 1 to 4. In order to avoid the prohibitive defects above pointed out, I end the operation ofknitting the front wall A at a certain wale, and begin the operation for the back wall upon a succeeding wale of the other face, preferably the neXt adjoining wale in the direction in which the formation of the course proceeds. To state the same matters in terms of instruments which may be employed in carrying out my improved art, the operation of knitting the front wall A may begin upon a certain needle, (that knitting wale 101) of the cylinder, proceeding to the left as shown in Fig. 4, for the formation of the course marked a This first operation is ended after the intervening construction of the entire wall A of the welt, upon the needle knitting the wale w. The operation for the formation of the back wall 13 is then begun upon the next dial needle in the direction of knitting, which fabric B is that marked 6 in Fig. 4, and the first loop thereof is that marked X. This procedure effectively prevents the formation of any part of a course of ribbed fabric. Although it will not be destructive of the fabric to make the initial loop X in a dial Wale somewhat removed from the wale Q0 in the direction of knitting, the taking of this initial loop in a wale adjoining said wale in effectually prevents the objectionable holding over or tucking of any of the dial loops of the ribbed fabric R during an intervening course, as will occur if action is suspended upon one face and begun upon the other only after several intervening wales. It is still necessary, however, to prevent the single run of yarn l V (Figs. 2, 3, f and 5) formed when passing from the last course a of the first wall of the welt to the first course Z2 in the second wall of the welt, from uniting together the first and last knit courses of the first or face wall A. I accomplish this by providing loose yarn in the last loops of the first formed wall A of the welt, and by thereafter subjecting the run W to a longitudinal strain to cause it to be drawn upon to rob the loose stitches of some of their yarn. Preferably this strain is applied gradually to the run W, after the beginning of the knitting of the second Wall E has locked the said run N at its preceding end firmly into the normal fabric of said wall B. In the fabric shown in f the loose yarn is provided by slack stitches st, .9 s, in the last course a. It will be understood that Fig. t shows the slack stitches in an exaggerated manner, since after the run VJ has been formed they may be reduced to a normal length, or to a close approach to the normal.

I have above pointed out the effect of the take-up or draw off devices of ordinary rib knitting machines to place the loops suspended upon the dial under a relatively heavy tension. If the fabric is to be knit in such a machine and the last few stitches in the last course knit by the cylinder are formed sufficiently long and loose (as by drawing a longer stroke upon the particular needles concerned, or by lifting the needles out of their grooves, or by manipulating the webholders) the taking of the yarn by the first needles of the dial to knit will result in the gradual transfer of the take-up strain at this point to the yarn W extending from the last loop of the cylinder (now suspended from its needle) to the first dial loop X of the back wall. Loose yarn having been provided in the loose stitches s s 8, as the back wall grows in length the said stitches will gradually be robbed of their yarn by the take-up tension, which it will be noticed, comes on the yarn W only of the entire fabric of the wall A. This robbing of the suspended slack stitches is made easier, as a machine operation, by the stichcs resting at this time in the polished hooks of the needles, through which the yarn more readily d 'aws than would be the case if it were to be taken from an unsupported fabric. The behavior of a machine carrying out the above steps of my art will be apparent from an inspection of Fi s. 2, 3, and

The usual manufacture of fabric according to my method will comprise an indefinite succession of body-sections 1t and R united together as a string-work by the webs A, B.

In Figs. 8 and f) l have shown the order of steps to be carried out with respect to the instrlnnents in a carrier or machine, represented as a mniventional plan View of a needle cylinder and a needle dial containing (36 needles each. Fig. 8 indicates the point of the operation shown in Fig. 1, in which there is a suspension of activity of the dial needles beyond the needle (36 of the dial, which is the last to knit, the cylinder needles beginning to knit alone at needles 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. The numerals refer to consecutive needles, and the rib knitting has been preceding in, the direction of the arrow. At the end of the operation of knitting the plain fabric for the front wall, which is that stage indicated in Fig. 2, the cylinder needles, beginning with the needles 1, 2, 3, etc, will be suspended from operation, while the first dial needle to take the yarn and knit will be the dial needle 1. Slack stitches s, s, s, are formed upon the cylinder needle (36, and those immediately preceding it, to ian extent somewhat dependent upon the length of the run of the yarn \V.

I have Iindicated the formation of slack stitches stood that my method may be carried out and the fabric may be formed by any hand or machine operation which will produce the effects which I have defined as essential to the performance of the method, or the production of the fabric.

It is sometimes desirable to form an abnormally long tubular welt, and .in this case I may proceed as indicated in Figs. (3 and 7, which indicate the same part as shown in Fig. l of a longer welt structure built up by SllUCCE-YSlVG operations upon the face wales and the back wales of the fabric respectively. For clearness a welt only a few courses long is shown, but it will be um'lerstood that it may be relatively of a much greater length. To make this form of my fabric by the practice of this variation of my method, I proceed as follows:-A body part of section of rib fabric R is first formed and thereupon knitting is suspended upon rib wales (i (P, etc, as in the case of the fabric shown in Fig.

4, and is continued upon the face wales w to w to form the front wall or face of plain fabric. After a suflicient number of courses, to be determined by convenience only, a number of slack terminal loops s s 8", etc, similar to those formed at the end of the wall A of the fabric shown in Fig. 4: are formed, the last slack loop 5 occupying the wale '20 and constituting the terminal loop of its section of fabric A Knitting upon the back wall is now begun at the loop X and the wale (Z creating, as in the case of the fabric shownin Fig. a a float or run of free yarn W between the walls of the welt. Knitting in the back wall is continued for the same number of courses as the front wall until. the wale (Z is reached, which is that wale on the back or dial side of the fabric next preceding the face wale to containing the terminal loop of the front wall. In the said wale (Z the terminal loop of the first section knit is shown at y. Knite ting is suspended at said loop on the back face of the fabric and resumed on the front face of the fabric in the wale w which is that Wale of the face of the fabric next heyond the wale 20 in which the terminal loop 5 of the first section of the front face 'was formed. There is thus formed extending from the loop g to the loop a a run of yarn Y extei'iding transversely of the space between the walls of the welt. Knitting of a new section A ofthe front wa l now proceeds as before. This procedure may be kept up indefinitely. Alternate sections of front wall A back wall B front wall A back wall B2, front wall A back wall 13 etcl, (see Fig. 7) being formed, until it is desired to resume the production of ribbed fabric R which is preceded with as in the case of Fig. 4.

Itwill be noticed that for the formation of the run of yarn Y it is notnecessary to provide loose yarn, the loop 7 and the loop 2 being separated from each other only by the space between the front and back walls of the welt and the space separating the wales (Z and 10 In other words, the terminal loop g of a preceding section B of the back wall is in the same course-plane and close to the same wale as the initial loop a of a succeedingsection [if of the front wall fabric.

It will be noticed that either of the above structures may be made upon a knitting machine equipped with two sets of needles hav-,

drawing of slack stitches, and the resump- 7 tion of activity of needles which have been idle, and it will therefore be understood that my invention is independent of any particular machine or arrangement of instruments, and that it is more particularly concerned with the operations performed and the order in which they are performed, and the result produced by said operations, than with the instruments upon which the acts may be done.

What I claim is:

1. A rib knit fabric having a body part, and a welt formed of walls of plain fabric extending respectively from courses knit through adjoining loops of a terminal course of body fabric, the initial loop of one wall and the final loop of the other wall being connected by a floater run o'f'freeyarn.

2. A knit fabric having a body part, and a welt formed of walls of plain fabric extending respectively from courses knit through adjoining loops of a terminal course of body fabric, the initial loop of one wall and the final loop of the other wall being connected by a float or run of free yarn within the walls of the welt, and another body part having an initial course knit through the final courses of both walls of the welt.

3. A rib knit article comprising a body part and a welt part integrally formed from an unbroken yarn, the welt part comprising a front wall of plain fabric and back wall of plain fabric having initial stitches in ad acent wales.

4. A rlb knit art1cle comprlslng a body part and a welt part integrally formed from an unbroken yarn, the welt part comprising a front wall of plain fabric and a back wall of plain fabric, the front wall having a final stitch and the back wall an initial stitch in adjacent wales.

5. A rib knit article comprising a body part and a'welt part integrally formed from an unbroken yarn, the welt part comprising a front wall of plain fabric and a back wall of plain fabric, the front wall having a final stitch and the back wall an initial stitch in adjacent wales, the terminal courses of both walls being united by an initial course of the body fabric.

6. A rib knit article com'prising a body stitch in adjacent wales connected by a float or run of free yarn within the walls of the welt.

8. A rib knit article comprising a. body part and a welt part integrally formed from an unbroken yarn, the welt part comprising a front wall of plain fabric and a. back wall of plain fabric, the front wall having a final stitch and the back wall an initial stitch in adjacent wales, connected by a float or run of free yarn within the walls of the welt, the terminal, courses of both walls be- Zing united by an initial course of the body fabric.

9. A. knit fabric having a body section and a flat tubular transverse welt thereon, said welt comprising a front wall. knit in integral prolongation of the terminal loops of certain wales only of the body section, and a coextensive back wall knit from the same yarn, the first course of which is interknit with the remaining loops of said terminal course, the terminal loop of the last course of one wall being in a certain. wale, and the initial loop of the other wall in the next adjoining wale.

10. The art of knitting a fabric having a body part and a welt, which consists in first forming the body unit and then knitting through some wales only of a terminal course of the body fabric an initial course of plain fabric, and in thereafter forming succeeding-courses of plain fabric for the front wall of the welt; in then completing the operation for the front wall of the welt by the formation of a plurality of slack stitches ending upon a certain wale, and in then beginning an initial course of plain fabric for the back wall of the welt by drawing the first loop thereof through an unoccupied terminal loop of the body fabric in a wale adjoining the Wale containing the terminal loop of the front wall of the welt and in thereafter placing tension upon the yarn joiningthe final course of the front wall and the initial course of the back wall.

11. The art of knitting single course or one-yarn fabrics comprising the formation of a course of loops drawn successively to opposite faces of the fabric, the subsequent formation in continuation of all of said loops of one face only of a section of plain fabric terminating in a series of slack stitches ending at a certain wale; the subsequent formation of a section of plain fabric in continuation of the loops of the other face, beginning at a Wale adjoining said certain Wale, and the subsequent formation of an initial course of ribbed fabric joining the final courses of the sections of plain fabric.

12. The art of knitting single course or one-yarn fabrics comprising the formation in successive courses of Wales of loops drawn Copies of this patent may be obtained for successively to opposite faces of the fabric, for a section of ribbed fabric; the subsequent fm'i'nation in continuation of the wales of one face only of a section of plain fabric terminating in a series of slack stitches ending at a certain wale; the subsequent formation of a section of plain fabric in continuatimi of wales of the other face from yarn extending from the last stitch, and beginning at a wale adjoining said certain wale, and simultaneously drawing upon the yarn extending from the slack stitch to take yarn from said stitch; and the subsequent formation of an initial course of fab ric joining the final courses of the sections of plain fabric.

The art of knitting string-work fabrics comprising an integral succession of ribbed-fabric sections joined together by the walls of tubular welt sections, which consists in first forming a section of ribbed fabric by knitting successive courses from the same yarn, in then forming a wall of a welt by plain knitting in successive courses from the same yarn, in extension of the wales of one face of the fabric; in then providing free or slack yarn; in then knitting anotl or wall of the welt said operation comprising the step of drawing upon and extending the free yarn in the direction of the length of the fabric, and in then interknitting the terminal courses of the walls of the welt prior to the formation of another section of ribbed fabric.

til. The art of knitting welts upon an im plemcnt or machine having two rows of hooked instruments, which comprises first 'lorming a fabric of wales of loops of yarn about neighboring instruments of both sets in succession, the last course so formed remaining upon the instruments; in then successively forming a number of courses of plain fabric, from the same yarn and casting off the last course, upon one row of instruments only, the operation concluding with the formation upon and retention upon some of said instruments last in use of slack loops; in then forming upon the other row of instruments beginning at one near the lastformed slack loop, another and independent section of plain fabric while simultaneously drawing upon the first-formed and lastformed fabric only to extend the yarn of the slack loops :long the inner face of the first formed section of plain fabric.

.Tn testin'umy whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of the subscribing witnesses.

ROBE .11 W. SCOTT.

\Vitnesses ARTHUR M. BLADES, E'riinn M. llamas.

five cents each, by addressing the Gommissioner of Patents, Washington, I). C. 

